Vaquero And Houston

He got home fairly late last night.  From his high spirits one might have been pardoned for thinking that he flew all the way back home without the assistance of a plane.  He had the most marvelous time, playing, lecturing, performing, being interviewed for radio and newspapers, reading and signing.  He sold all of the books he brought with him, the bookstore sold more and he sold Postmamboist tee shirts.

He hung out with so many of his favorite musician amigos, and he was taken care of very well.  The festival assigned a lot of the acts a 'caretaker,' a young local volunteer who drove you around, guided and carried, and was just generally as helpful as the caretaker could be.  The best thing about them, V. said, is that these volunteers were so clearly have a wonderful time doing what they were doing.  His volunteer was named Grady, and was in heaven, as one night he listened to V., Brian Lynch, Yunior and Yosvani, discuss straight time vs. swing time.

He hung out with Eddi Palmieri a whole lot all weekend too.  He has only one regret -- he didn't get to Joe Ely's show, which was playing on the other side of the festival while V was on stage with Brave Combo, performing "Cowboys Are Frequently, Secretly."

Vaquero also got a new summer straw cowboy hat.

All in all it was his idea of heaven.  A musician's heaven.

Houston iFest, Plus Postmambosim

Vaquero, he goes there, yes!  Sings, plays guitar, reads and signs books, plus a bit of Postmamboism

Houston and me have always gotten along well. Next Friday (Apr 16) at 7 p.m. I'll be doing a book reading / signing with some songs at Sig's Lagoon,  3710 Main, Houston, TX. http://www.sigslagoon.com/events/?event_id=8

Then at 10:30 that same night, I move next door to Shoeshine Charlie's Big Top Lounge for a full set of music by me and my guitar.

The next two days, Saturday and Sunday, I'll be appearing at Houston's iFest -- a Texas-size two-weekend outdoor world music festival. http://www.ifest.org/complete-schedule/ I'll be at 4:30 Saturday (17) at the H-E-B cultural stage, dropping some Postmamboism and maybe playing a little, and will also do a book signing. Later that afternoon, when I'm off duty, three of my faves are up against each other on three different stages:

Joe Ely, Brave Combo, and Bachata Roja Legends, so I'll have to deal it out carefully. The following day (18) i'm back at the H-E-B stage at 2:30.

That day's attractions include Mighty Diamonds, Eddie Palmieri, New Orleans  rapper Truth Universal, and Marcia Ball.

(The weekend after is ridiculous -- the fest closes with King Sunny and P-Funk -- but I'll be back in Noo Yawk.)

More about San Francisco soon, but it's gonna be special.

And the new Postmamboism T-shirts really really are coming, soon . . .